PSS teachers stop complaining
In the Variety, Aug. 13, the commissioner of PSS states that “of the $40.5 million PSS budget, $31.7 million will go to personnel” which begs the question, why does PSS need more money? The feds give about $35 million every year, so why are you always asking for more money? What do you spend this $76 million on, other than all the off-island trips you guys take?
According to CNMIPSS site…The CNMI Public School System anticipates receiving an estimated $35.6 million dollars in federal program funding for FY15 (Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015). Approximately, 1/3rd staff FTEs.The remaining 2/3rds fund program operation. The Federal Programs Office (FPO) assisted our 19 public schools and 28 private schools with the development of their Title 1 targeted assistance and school-wide programs. Why are private schools included? They are for profit corporations.
Let’s see now, get my calculator out and, 35X1/3+31.7=43.3. OK. We have 677 (2012-3 report) teachers, aids and councilors, and 201 in administrative. Get my calculator out and 43.3/677+201=49,000. Wow, $49,000/year salary is great pay for teachers in Saipan. What you say? That’s only for teachers with over 10 years of service? Oh! The way I read it, it includes office, maintenance and other non-teaching positions also but that’s the average, and it is an excellent salary for here, or anywhere.
If you aren’t getting $49,000 a year that means someone is getting more, in some cases, way more than you are and you should check it out. It also means to me that you teachers should be doing more for the students than telling them to be quiet, sit down, listen, and obey. You should be on the web daily looking for innovative ideas to introduce in your classrooms instead of pushing your 1950’s agenda on these young people. It’s 2014 people. Commissioner, you know that time, or money, will expand to fill the amount allocated to it. Go on YouTube and find out how school systems are doing more for less with technology.
Gary DuBrall
Chalan Piao
Mr. Dubral,
$49,000 per annum is a lot of money, maybe we should apply for a job at PSS and get a big salary. Or maybe there is a lot of money for travel expenses for the entire board members.
Thanks for the info. above, we might be considering running for a position as a board member in the future, because it pays to be in their club membership.
The top PSS teacher salary is $47,001; however, most make less. To make the top salary requires a minimum masters degree (6 years of college), while truck drivers in the states earn an average of $50,000. Both jobs are important, but the salary is only a part of the job. You are correct in saying that teachers in Saipan are well compensated. We get two months off, each year, to spend time with our families, participate in youth programs, and plan for the next year. Overall our students are respectful, pleasant, and enjoy learning; making the job well worth the pay sacrifices.
Overall, the PSS administration is forward thinking with the use of instructional techniques that are research based. Also, PSS is very strict on the spending of funds. There are multiple checks in place to make sure that the money being spent is going for its intended purpose. A note on travel: I enjoyed a trip to Washington D.C. that allowed me to visit with project managers from all over the United States. Not only did I learn from their experiences, I was motivated by their passion towards preserving the different cultures. The trip was a great experience, and it was a mandatory requirement from the granting agency.
Hello V. Welch,
We don’t mean to be sarcastic with our statement above and we were mere trying to open up the can of worms. In the past, we were in the position to review the PSS requested budget and the budget that was allocated for the PSS in a given year.
For teachers from the CNMI to attend conferences in the the United States mainland had been beneficial for our students over the years, but the point we are trying to make is why all the unnecessary travel expenses for the PSS Board Members and its administrators in the past.
Please remember that the PSS is an autonomous agency and they allocated money where they think needs the most and that is when we start questioning their motives or intentions.
You as a teacher, we are very grateful for your sacrifices, dedications, and contributions to our society as a whole. We have no problem with people like yourself, but we as a community needs to know the distributions of all funds allocated to the Public School System.
Remember the PSS fiasco not to long ago, payments were authorized to certain individuals from higher up. We need to have accountability within the PSS when it comes to their expenditures.
We as a society will support any effort to improve the quality of the learning environment for our students, but we will question any impropriety in our school system.
We had dealt with graduates in the past from the PSS System and we were dumb founded that some were not able to fill out TANF applications or job applications or filling out the FAFSA application to attend college. It is sad to see high school graduate unable to read nor write or just do basic arithmetic or math. We are merely questioning why such predicament were put upon some of our high school grads and what went wrong during their attendance while in high school? Why more money for our school system? And for what purpose the extra funding are needed?
Our funding amount is relative. We receive more than Kiribati and Majuro, but less than Guam, Hawaii and all of the other mainland states. Yet we have teams that compete against students from states that receive 3 or more times the amount of funding per student, and our students win. My brother teaches at a school with 15 max students per class, they have music, art, physical education, and technology teachers, in addition to the classroom teachers. And yet his students and CNMI students have worked collaboratively on a project, and there does not seem to be a large gap in student abilities, especially when factoring in the number of 2nd language students here, compared to there. I have 6 children and 5 are now on their own, none the worse for their CNMI public school experience.